How can marketers satisfy this unquenchable desire for new content? One technology that helps tackle the need for developing and delivering a constant stream of personalized content to customers is natural language generation (NLG).

Faces of Econtent

As product manager of emerging platforms at Group Nine Media, a family of digital media brands, Chao Li's primary responsibilities are to identify new technologies that will help all of Group Nine's brands (NowThis, The Dodo, Seeker, and Thrillist) create more impactful storytelling and share stories across diverse platforms.

In her role as lead content strategist for Alibaba Group, Taylor Howard is responsible for global content on the AliExpress app, mobile site, and desktop site, as well as content for worldwide social media channels. Howard says, "With multiple languages on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the Russian sites VK and OK, we have 19 social media accounts."

As director of customer success for Wochit, a cloud-based video creation platform, Jason Harris leads a team that oversees all product-related activities for video creators of the company's publisher, brand, and agency partners.

Kristen Meinzer, senior producer with podcast network Panoply, which helps companies produce and monetize podcasts, draws heavily on both communication and technical skills in her job. "I engineer, edit, and produce podcasts, and I also co-host and co-write my own podcast, By the Book," Meinzer says. She also manages a team of podcast producers, but says, "I prefer the word ‘advocate' or ‘go-to person' over ‘manager.'"

As a content and campaign manager of .ME, a company that operates the personal domain name .ME, Sanja Gardaševic's varied roles have a single purpose: to share stories of .ME domain names and its users. "As a company that does business in a mostly .com world, explaining what .ME is and why it should be your alternative is a challenge," says Gardaševic.

On a typical day, Solomon meets with clients, agency partners, content platform providers, and internal Lingotek departments to gather use cases, weigh priorities, and create requirements for development. "I find ways to connect Lingotek's advanced translation technology and network of professional translators to the people creating content across the globe," he says.

In her role at Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication, Michelle Ferrier studies innovation and entrepreneurship in media. "My primary research work is around harassment," says Ferrier, who founded TrollBusters (troll-busters.com), a digital tool to combat online harassment against women journalists, bloggers, and publishers.

As global head of digital content marketing and strategy at Hearsay Social, a San Francisco-based company that provides enterprise technology tools for global financial services, insurance, and mortgage teams, Nicole Johnson's role is to tell authentic and engaging stories around the brand and its offerings. She says, "I build the brand and engage our audiences through content, while ensuring a consistent brand experience across multiple touchpoints."

As lead virtual reality (VR) engineer of Littlstar, a global network dedicated to immersive 360-video and photos, Charles Kelly is responsible for the development of all VR applications across the various makes and models of VR headsets. "My job is to make sure the Littlstar video applications can be viewed and used on multiple technologies and VR platforms," Kelly says. "There are several different headsets currently out in the marketplace to view these VR, 360-videos, and we want to be accessible and at the forefront of all of them."

Working at Localytics, which provides an analytics and marketing platform for mobile and web applications, Matt Kaminski sees his role as senior manager of marketing analytics and operations as threefold. "First, I ensure we have the systems, technologies, and processes in place to measure and analyze our entire marketing funnel," he says. "I also try to make the data and insights we're gleaning from these systems accessible, so insight sharing and good decision making can happen quickly."

SaleHoo is an online wholesale directory and community for online traders, eBay sellers, and traditional retailers that is owned by Doubledot Media. In her role as SaleHoo content editor, Melissa Johnson says, "The goal is to educate our customers and help them build a thriving business for themselves. You can't do that without high-quality content."

James Stout, senior manager, technology and developer evangelist for Episerver, a global software provider for ecommerce, CMS, and digital marketing solutions, says, "I describe my role as that of a digital renaissance man." He works with both product management and product marketing at Episerver as an ambassador and trusted advisor to partners and customers, while simultaneously serving as their internal advocate.

Searchmetrics is an enterprise SEO and content marketing firm, and Kevin Indig's role as an SEO consultant is to help clients overcome challenges and make SEO generate revenue. "I might help them find and fix a manual Google backlink penalty or identify growth opportunities by giving them lots of high-potential keywords and topics to target," Indig says. He dives deep into technical issues, marketing processes, and strategies to help clients optimize their websites. "I also provide blog posts, speak at conferences, and conduct webinars on how SEO is evolving," he says.

As the marketing manager for Bridgeline Digital, a content management software company, Ryan Hadfield's primary function is to generate leads and ensure that customers are making the most of the iAPPS platform. "While lead acquisition is the heart of what I do, I love nurturing current customers and prospects with weekly segmented email campaigns that include white papers, ebooks, and other forms of thought leadership," he says.

As a senior product marketing manager for Adobe Experience Manager Assets, Adobe's digital asset management (DAM) and rich media solution, Elliot Sedegah is in charge of worldwide product marketing. He says, "Long story short, I have two responsibilities: to anticipate marketing requirements and solutions and to develop and execute on go-to-market plans."

As a digital marketing strategist for gShift, an SaaS company that provides clients with analytical insights on their overall web presence, Logan Miller works with "upward of a dozen" clients on content creation, social media strategies, and SEO strategies. "Managing social media for clients is a lot of fun," he says. "I'm constantly checking in on different accounts, engaging with audiences, monitoring competition, and creating content."

As the founder and creative director of the independent, alternative online travel publication Compass Cultura, the range of Jeff Campagna's role is necessarily broad. "I guide the creative scope and editorial vision of the publication and also manage the nitty-gritty, day-to-day stuff that most executives rarely deal with," Campagna says. He runs the company's social media presence as well as handles most design and development. "But perhaps my most important duty is participating in the editorial workflow. We only publish three articles per month, so we take this very, very seriously."

Durant Gipson is a data analyst at AddThis, a media web-tracking technology company that provides a social bookmarking service. Most of his customers are internal, including product managers, developers, marketing team members, account managers, and the executive team. "My job is to answer questions with our data and to provide some intelligence alongside. That might include conversion rates on a widget, the volume of page views we see for a new publisher, identifying the largest domains for specific countries, or the synchronization rate for a specific data partner," Gipson says.

As content curator for the digital agency iAcquire, Lisa Kasanicky's primary charge is to manage blogs for the iAcquire and ClearVoice websites. She jokes that the job comes with "a long checklist of responsibilities and a tweed newsboy cap," as she works on everything from big-picture tasks (such as creating editorial calendars and nailing down topics with contributors) to details (such as crafting SEO titles and descriptions). She also writes guest blog posts, ebooks, case studies, client content, and email blasts.

Frank Taylor works as a senior front-end developer at Tahzoo, a customer experience agency offering research and content strategy solutions to Fortune 500 companies. In his role, Taylor says, "I work with both internal and external customers to provide front-end architectural guidance on SDL Tridion."

In her role as a product marketing manager for Telerik, which offers a web content management (WCM) platform that lets businesses personalize web experiences, Svetla Yankova's primary remit is, as she puts it, "to find the product for the market and the market for the product, all the way from strategy to execution." This covers the spectrum from strategy-centric tasks such as market research, positioning, and persona building, to actual execution by communicating roadmaps, implementing launch plans, creating marketing plans, and providing sales support.

In her role as a product marketing manager for Telerik, which offers a web content management (WCM) platform that lets businesses personalize web experiences, Svetla Yankova's primary remit is, as she puts it, "to find the product for the market and the market for the product, all the way from strategy to execution." This covers the spectrum from strategy-centric tasks such as market research, positioning, and persona building, to actual execution by communicating roadmaps, implementing launch plans, creating marketing plans, and providing sales support.

At Scribd, a subscription digital library to the world's largest collection of ebooks, Lyndsey Besser works in the ranks of the original content marketers: public relations professionals. She says, "My primary role is to spread the word about Scribd. We want publishers and authors to know about the service, and we want readers to know they can have instant access to unlimited books on all their devices."

When Lucy Kemmitz stepped into the role of social media manager for Hilton Hotels & Resort, the first dedicated social position for the brand, she was able to craft her own job description. She says, "We have over 550 hotels around the world, and I have the task of training and educating each hotel in social media, working with regional teams that assist in rolling out different programs." Kemmitz works closely with a host of departments, not only in the Americas but across the world. "Making sure Hilton is top of mind in social is important not just in driving revenue, but in ensuring that guests and potential guests feel cared for," she says.

At Lattice, which offers predictive application solutions for marketing and sales professionals to uncover buyer insights, Amanda Maksymiw creates content to educate and engage customers. Maksymiw says, "To help build our thought-leadership role and provide compelling content, I create blog posts, videos, infographics, and longer form ebooks and white papers." To generate ideas for those content assets, Maksymiw collaborates with many departments within Lattice and with outside influencers in the field of sales and marketing.

At the advertising agency Arnold Worldwide, John Forrester is a brand journalist and social media community manager for the New Balance (NB) account. "I'm responsible for researching, reporting, and writing long-form editorial content for NewBalance.com and ensuring that each piece makes its way to the client through Arnold's editorial process," Forrester says. On a monthly basis, he assists in the development of content deliverables, from long-form articles on the brand's website to bite-size graphics distributed through social channels. Forrester says, "Beyond editorial production, I also keep an eye on running and sneaker head publications and online communities to see what direction their content is going."

As an account manager in the London headquarters of Kulu Valley, a digital communications solution provider that allows users to create and distribute interactive presentations, with video, synced slides, and other resources, Somaya Khan's main job is to make sure clients are using the platform's functionality to the fullest. "I advise on what works and what doesn't in the digital space," Khan says. While the platform is designed to be self-explanatory, she says, "Sometimes, clients just need some hand-holding, especially the first few times or when it's an especially important presentation." This could mean going to the client's offices to assist with video recordings or bringing clients to Kulu Valley's own production facilities.

BuddyTV provides viewers with engaging, interactive guides for personalized television viewing. The company's manager of business operations, Andrew Sumitani, says his role requires more than just a revenue focus. "I manage many aspects of our web property, so I make feature requests of our development team and help them prioritize which to tackle first. Then, when those requests are completed, I hand off marketing to our social media team," he says.

Jennifer is the production operations manager for the hosted data services team at Connotate, which provides web data monitoring and extraction services for its customers. "My team writes all the processes to automate the reading, collection, publishing, and pushing of data to our customers," Beach says, noting that her group oversees 450 servers. That means working closely with Connotate's sales and professional services web harvesting teams to make sure the company delivers exactly what customers expect. "We're technologists and engineers, but with strong business analyst skills."

Davina Baum is the director of digital content for AFAR, a multiplatform travel media brand designed to make experiential travel easier. Baum, who oversees content strategy, says, "I spend a fair amount of time thinking about how to get our content out to the most people, how to bring new people to us, and how to make sure that reading AFAR.com is the most satisfying experience to readers, whether on browser or mobile."

As head of curation for Flipboard--which allows users to easily create, edit, and share magazines using content from the web--Mia Quagliarello works to make great content easily discoverable to readers all over the world. "When news breaks, we curate magazines that go deep into current events, with content from different platforms and media types. We might include articles from The New York Times and the BBC, prominent tweets, photos on Instagram, and videos from YouTube," Quagliarello says. She also manages Flipboard's company blog, for which she sometimes gets to interview thought-leaders and celebrities, including Larry King and Jessica Alba. "I also contribute to our social media posts, and create tutorial videos that explain how to use Flipboard," Quagliarello says.

As the social media strategist at iAcquire, an agency specializing in digital marketing strategy, SEO, and social media, Megan Brown says, "If there's anything social media-related that comes up or needs to be done, I'm involved." That means working with sales and account managers to pitch to potential clients, creating and implementing social strategy, and networking with influencers on the client's behalf.

Jordy Brazier manages the customer success team at FirstRain, Inc., which provides software analytics for customer and market intelligence to the sales and marketing departments of large companies. "Once a contract is signed, my team and I are the boots on the ground, working with the customer and our engineering team to implement the solution in the best way possible," Brazier says.

Michael Boor maintains the Wonderware Developer Network (WDN) Technical Support Website, an online knowledge center for Wonderware, a real-time operations management software solution from Invensys, Inc. Boor says, "The WDN has evolved and grown from a community-focused site into a central self-help source for the Wonderware software platform." "My role is a combination of technical communicator, content strategist, business system analyst, videographer, usability expert, fixer-of-problems, and rock 'n' roll drummer," Boor says. His primary focus is to provide news, reports, content, design, functionality, and content strategies that support the site. And there's no end point to the project. As Boor says, "By definition, the site is never finished. It must always evolve."

With a job description that most sports fans would salivate over, Dylan MacNamara, senior deputy editor at digital sports media network Bleacher Report, Inc., manages the site's NFL associate editors and the myriad featured columnists who report to them. "I'm also involved with the NBA team, specifically helping during creative sessions and talent recruitment," says MacNamara, who is also helping to build a scouting department for the site.

Stan Garfield considers himself a maven, a salesman, and a connector in his role as leader of the collaboration program for Deloitte Development, LLC's consulting business. "I provide advice and support on communities, enterprise social networking (ESN), and social media, primarily to internal users," Garfield says. This involves training, monitoring, and encouraging users of Deloitte's ESN to "narrate their work, or work out loud," Garfield says, for more efficient communication and knowledge sharing within the organization.

Ernie Smith, social media journalist with TMG, a content marketing firm, focuses on writing and running AssociationsNow.com, the online presence for ASAE's (American Society of Association Executives) Associations Now. Smith says, "I work directly with ASAE staff in shaping the tone and the style of the content, which is largely curated with daily blog posts and a strong focus on visuals. I design my own infographics and illustrations, I help post to social media, I played a key role in designing the look of the newsletter which we publish Monday through Friday-and a key role in writing it, too."

With a title like "Catalyst," Zak Greant of Magnolia International Ltd., the company that develops the Magnolia open source enterprise content management system, has a wide-ranging remit. "I focus on community strategy, community development and contributor development," says Greant. "At its core, community work is about people."

Peter Sunna is a product manager at EPiServer, a provider of web content management (WCM), online social community, and ecommerce platforms. Sunna says, "I work with our content management tool that editors and marketers use each day to manage their different online channels, ranging from their websites and mobile to social."

As a senior experience architect for Siteworx, Inc., an interactive agency with a focus on agile design, web content management, and systems integration, Dara Pressley says, "I put together the structure, or bones, of a website." She's responsible for user research, information architecture, competitor analysis, and interactive designs, and she also works with a team to produce the work.

As a senior sales engineer for CSG International, which provides business support solutions to content producers to help them grow digital entertainment businesses, Ryan Anglin's job requires both technical knowledge and an understanding of the econtent industry as a whole. "My primary responsibilities center around educating current and prospective customers about our direct-to-consumer platform, Content Direct," Anglin says, "so I have to understand how it fits within a customer's current infrastructure."

As a lead front end architect at Kaltura, which provides an open source video platform for more than 150,000 websites, Michael Dale's role boils down to making it easy for people to communicate with video online. "My focus is on platforms that support the HTML5 video standard on desktop and mobile," Dale says. "I work to build a front end video player architecture that scales well to massive amounts of video views and supports rich online video experiences."

As an applications engineer for Bunchball, an industry leader in the field of gamification, Kasey McCurdy develops front-end applications for the Nitro gamification platform. "I started my career primarily as a designer, and because of my unique background, I often find myself helping with design, user experience, and the overall conceptualization of different products and solutions," McCurdy says. "I get to implement Nitro with a large variety of platforms, from Salesforce.com to Jive Software to mobile."

At FishBowl Worldwide Media, an independent production company that develops scripted television, unscripted television, and digital content, Kelly Nash is a manager in the unscripted television division. "I develop new television ideas on my own, and also meet with independent producers in the community who pitch me ideas," Nash says. "When I partner with a producer, we develop the format together as a 50/50 partnership." After putting together a presentation that includes a "sizzle reel" to provide a taste of the show and its characters, the team pitches it to television networks.

As senior product manager at Cambridge Semantics, Inc., which provides operational intelligence software, Rob Gonzalez is responsible for developing and executing go-to-market strategies for Cambridge products."We have a new product line coming out called Anzo Express, which has a 6-month marketing and engineering plan associated with it," Gonzalez says. "I co-developed the strategy with one of our co-founders, and really enjoy working at that level."

Rachel Goldberg is a solutions consultant with the professional services team at Brainshark, which provides cloud-based software for creating, sharing, and tracking online and mobile video presentations. "My role is a mix of being a product expert and connecting that to our customers' communication approaches in areas like customer and partner education, internal training, sales, marketing outreach, and HR," Goldberg says.

As online marketing/SEO analyst for Sitecore, a web content management system software company, Ted Prodromou manages online ads and marketing campaigns all over the world. "I'm also responsible for the search engine optimization of Sitecore's corporate website and the microsites for each international region, and I play an integral role in Sitecore's social media strategy," Prodromou says.

As the sole database administrator (DBA) for startup Perfect Market, which provides traffic and content optimization solutions for web publishers, Tracy Tan likes the dual nature of her role. "It's nice to play with data-when business users ask me questions I can retrieve the answers. But I also like table design, and I get to do that for both our operational database and data warehouse database."